When it comes to building a better slalom ski, Head never takes a day off. Every year it tirelessly tinkers with the perfect formula, trying to solve a riddle that continues to vex them: why is it Head makes the best speed-event skis in the world but can’t come close to producing similar results in slalom?

And every year I face a parallel-world conundrum: why does a ski that comes up short on the FIS level continue to thoroughly bedazzle our crew? Every tester who tries it steps off it in a trance, hypnotized by its across-the-board excellence.

One of The Sport Loft crew couldn’t stop skiing it and scoring it, each successive card a hymn to hyperbole: “I never skied such a good slalom ski. I’m buying all their stock,” he claims after a run on the 165cm. After a vertical assault on the 160cm, he became convinced, “I could levitate on these.” And the 168cm “Made me the best skier on the mountain.”

This sort of ego-inflation is a stock response to skiing the i.SL RD. Declaims another Sport Loft foot soldier, “Mr. Hogen may be the Pontiff of Powder, but I am the Sultan of Slalom.” Such delusions of grandeur! If only declarations like “best SL on the planet” could be converted in World Cup wins, Head could take a break from SL R&D. Until then, Head will have to be content with making the most loved ski by those whose racing victories occur only in their vivid imaginations.